If his collegiate career will be anything like high school, Josh Lunda will need a bigger trophy case.

Lunda, an 18-year-old from Cole Harbour, captured his fifth straight 100-metre provincial title Friday at the Nova Scotia School Athletic Federation championships in Sydney.

He easily won his preliminary race in 11.26 seconds, and followed that up with a pace of 11.24 seconds in the senior final.

That was off his personal best of 11.2 seconds he achieved in last year’s provincials, but he said that didn’t matter to him on Friday.

“I can’t explain what I’m feeling, I have no words right now. I honestly have no words right now,” said Lunda, who will move on to Dalhousie University in the fall.

His strategy at the beginning of the race was to remain calm and focused, he said.

“I had a little bit of a bad start, but it happens, we’re in conditions that you can’t control, so I just kept going,” he said.

Nearly 1,000 athletes, coaches, and family members from across Nova Scotia descended on Sydney for the annual track meet.

They were greeted to weather not unfamiliar to Cape Bretoners — cold, damp, windy conditions. The inclement weather forced the proceedings to be slightly delayed, but conditions improved throughout the day, with the rain stopping shortly after noon.

Halifax West senior Matthew Coolen won in the 100-metre hurdles with a time of 14.26 seconds, narrowly beating Lunda, his friend and training partner, who came in second at 14.7 seconds.

“It’s really windy out here today, but I felt good. I have a hurt hamstring, so that was kind of a nuisance, but overall it was a great race. I felt great the whole time,” he said.

Friday also saw the blossoming of a rivalry, as Catherine Kennedy from Dr. John Hugh Gillis in Antigonish, narrowly beat River John’s Olivia Pretty in the intermediate 80-metre hurdles.

Both Kennedy and Pretty easily won their preliminary races, but it was Kennedy who came out on top in the final with a time of 13.20 seconds.

“I knocked down a hurdle at the end, but I just tried to push through it,” Kennedy said. “So it feels really good to get ahead of her, and I just ran my race.”

Pretty had beat her at regionals, so Kennedy said she knew she had to have an excellent race Friday.

“I’m sure she’ll be one of my biggest competitors over the next few years, so I’m sure me and her will have it out a few more times,” she said.

Hana Marmura, a senior from J.H. Gillis, won her intermediate 1,500-metre race by several lengths, choosing to overtake the pack with less than 400 metres to go.

“I was tired of running on the outside, so I just got in front and just tried to sprint it out,” she said.

“I came into it knowing that this year, more than other years, there were a good six people that are really, really fast,” she added. “I knew it would be a (tough) competition, but my coach told me I’d have the strength to sprint it out at the end, so I just hung back until I was ready to break from the pack.”